


Tis The Season Baristas Fear The Most

by stilinskisparkles



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shop, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-11
Updated: 2012-12-11
Packaged: 2017-11-20 20:15:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/589241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stilinskisparkles/pseuds/stilinskisparkles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scott is hands down the worst barista Derek has ever hired. But it's Christmas and apparently that <i>means</i> something to some people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tis The Season Baristas Fear The Most

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Сезон, которого страшатся кофевары](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1067310) by [sotofa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sotofa/pseuds/sotofa)
  * Translation into Español available: [Es la temporada que más temen los baristas](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1385902) by [HeyDagger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeyDagger/pseuds/HeyDagger)



Scott is hands down the worst barista Derek has ever hired. And he once hired a girl who burst into tears when she couldn’t cope with a simple Grande _skinny extra hot wet three shot sugar free vanilla_ Latte. He wouldn’t have hired the kid if he hadn’t been desperate (his ex-employee Jackson threw his apron off last week and flounced out of the shop after Derek reminded him he wasn't allowed to give away drinks to pretty girls). And Scott had pulled honest to god puppy dog eyes out in front of  _Laura_. She’d practically swooned and pushed all the other CVs aside demanding Derek hire him on the spot. Which, Laura trying not to butt in on  _Derek’s_  business? Not happening.

It's also December third and Derek can already _smell_ the Christmas shoppers with their extravagent orders and endless desires for double cups and extra froth and huge piles of cream that just won't _fit_ under a take out lid.

Scott frequently gets distracted trying to smile at everyone and burns his hands; he consistently writes people's orders wrong on cups so that Derek gets yelled at by angry customers or worse  _Erica_  gets yelled at and then yells at Derek; and he's forever forgetting to set the timers so that people bring their drip coffees back looking disgusted. Scott is the ultimate test of Derek's patience and no one would ever dare say Derek doesn't have patience when he lives with  _Laura_.

He comes upstairs balancing a stack of lids and three bags of sugar and freezes. At the end of the bar Scott’s slowly tilting milk this way and that in the jug, listening intently to someone behind the coffee machine. A hand reaches out and corrects Scott’s grip before saying “atta boy, by god he’s got it!” And a wide smile appears followed by big brown eyes and oh, Derek is  _fucked_.

“What the hell?” He demands, stalking towards them.

“Oh, Stiles was just showing me how to make Cappuccino foam!” Scott turns his big excited eyes on Derek and for a second he wavers, he really doesn’t want to see the light dim in those eyes—

“Yeah it’s almost like he hadn’t been given any training before I turned up,” an amused voice pipes in. Which is completely  _unfair_  and untrue because Derek spent several painstaking  _hours_  trying to explain to Scott the differences between latte milk, flat white milk, cappuccino milk, froth, why some people like their cappuccinos wet and others like their lattes dry. Honestly, Derek's really not sure why people can't just have their coffee black but when Scott scrunched up his nose and asked the same question Derek had produced some god awful spiel about every person's order being  _unique_  and then glared until Scott sighed and started up the steamer again.

“I did teach him,” he manages to grind out. “And don’t put your hands behind the counter, you’re a customer.” Then he frowns at the guy,  _Stiles_. What a stupid fucking name. “Are you even a customer?”

Stiles' face lights up. “Hell yeah I am, wouldn’t miss my best friend’s first day on the job now would I?”

"It's not his first day. He's been here a week."  _The longest week of Derek's life._

"Sure but he was in training right? This is my boy's first day as a  _real_  barista."

Derek doesn’t know what to do with the abundant enthusiasm and so grunts and dumps the sugar in the cupboard beneath the drip coffee machine. When he straightens up Stiles averts his eyes like he’d been checking Derek out and Derek feels marginally better about the guy implying Derek is a shitty teacher.

The bell above the door pings and Lydia and Isaac sail in; Lydia talking a mile a minute about stripes most certainly  _not_  being this fall's successful fashion choice. Isaac's nodding, glancing at his camera and then stops mid stride when he looks up at the counter and sees Scott.

Scott's busy watching Stiles flail his arms around and honestly, it's like the guy can't keep from moving, it's sort of, hypnotising really and— Derek blinks, looking away and smiles at Lydia,  _because he so can shut up Erica._

"What'll it be today?"

"Something strong, extra shots."

"Big project coming up?"

"Isn't there always?" she says airily before turning to look for Isaac. 

Who is still standing like a statue staring at Scott. Lydia shoots an amused look at Derek. "I'm guessing Isaac will have your new barista."

"He's not for sale, he's priceless," Derek says drily, filling in Isaac's usual order and placing it on top of the bar. "Scott? Drinks to be made?" He glances over the wall to where Stiles is still lingering and sighs. "Why are you still here?"

"Just making sure no-one lets him accidentally drown himself in milk or anything."

"Is that even physically possible?"

"You never know with our Scott," Stiles says fondly.

Derek smacks Scott's hand gently as he reaches for full fat milk; Lydia would taste the difference in a heartbeat and possibly make Stiles' prediction about Scott meeting an early death via milk a reality.

"Rule number one; Lydia's drinks are always skinny."

Scott shoots him a grateful look and starts pouring carefully.

"Oooh you're one of  _those_  bosses aren't you?" Stiles says gleefully as he rests his chin on his hands to resume watching over his friend.

"What do you mean,  _those_  kind of bosses?"

"Like, all scary and gruff but secretly you're sweet like apple pie inside and your heart will eventually melt in the face of Scott's awesomeness."

Derek stares at him. He doesn't know whether to go with the comparison to apple pie or the fact someone over the age of eight uses the word  _awesomeness_. 

Finally, he rolls his eyes and swings open the fridge to check temperatures. It's a legitimate reason to bend down and not at all because he wants to know if Stiles checking him out had been a one-time thing. He stands and resists the urge to smirk when Stiles' gaze takes three seconds too long to meet his eyes. "I think you're confusing me with  _The Grinch_."

Stiles grins widely. "I don't know man; you've got the facial hair down for it."

"Does that make you Cindy Lou?" Derek gestures to above his own head. "With the whole—" Stiles' hair is actually kind of hot sticking up all over the place but he's not about to say  _that_.

The flush that sweeps across Stiles' face is not at  _all_  adorable and he yanks on a woolly hat which just, makes things ten times worse and Derek sort of wants to bury his head in his hands. "Shut up man, I've had exams. I haven't had time for a haircut."

Derek's about to respond, possibly with a comment about how useful that hair would be to tug on just to see what Stiles' reaction is, when Scott drops a milk jug on his foot.

He looks up at Derek aghast and Stiles flees the scene laughing.

Bastard.

Isaac and Lydia glance over from their table and Isaac shoots a sympathetic smile Scott's way. Scott walks into the blenders trying to smile back and Derek uses the last of his patience to send him on his break.

 

*

The following Tuesday when Derek arrives back from overseeing a Disciplinarian for another of his shops Isaac is casually leaning on the counter talking to Erica. Scott bounds up the stairs pulling on his own apron and then stops when he sees Isaac and Erica chatting. His smile deflates and he peeks over Derek's shoulder, blocking his way down to the partner lounge.

"Scott," Derek says slowly. "Are you going to be serving any coffee today or would you like to hide behind my shoulder for your entire shift?"

"Will you fire me if I pick the latter?"

Derek chooses not to express surprise at Scott knowing how to use the word  _latter_  correctly in a sentence.

"Yes."

Scott pouts and lets Derek shove him forward and onto the shop floor.

"Hi there sweet stuff," Erica says easily. 

When they make eye contact Scott ducks his head at the same time Isaac does and Derek is going to vomit sugar all night if they keep this up.

"Scott, this is my brother Isaac, Isaac this is my new favourite person in the world, Scott."

"I'm your favourite?" Scott asks, suddenly delighted. Isaac watches as if mesmerised. 

"Well," Erica smirks. "If he's single you're totally going to give me your cute friend's number right?"

Derek had been on his way, finally, down the stairs when he pauses and looks back at Scott. He doesn't know why he's curious, ok fine, he knows exactly why he's curious so everyone else can fuck off he wants to know what Scott's going to say.

"He's single yeah but not really uh, into girls?" Scott says finally and Erica rolls her eyes.

"You're all  _useless_. The only other appealing person that works here is Laura and if Boyd wouldn't kick my ass if I tried—"

"Boyd would though," Boyd says easily, appearing at the counter with his chosen Panini and smirking at Erica. He gives Derek a nod over the counter and Derek waves, gesturing that he'll go and tell Laura Boyd's on his break from work.

Meanwhile Boyd rattles off his order to Scott whilst Erica puts his Tuna Melt on the grill with a little too much force.

Scott looks bewildered as Boyd talks and Isaac snorts, grabbing the pen from him and writing the order on the cup himself. Scott looks like Isaac's just presented him with the  _sun_  as he takes the cup back.

Derek is definitely vomiting something later.

 

*

There's a lull mid Wednesday morning and Derek goes to make a couple of calls, sort out the deployment sheet for the next day and  _not_  think about bright wide eyes and delicious looking moles placed tantalisingly all over pale skin. Stiles has only been into the shop a couple of times and Derek, has never crushed this ridiculously on anyone in his life. He's vaguely wondering whether he should panic over it when he glances up at the cameras he realises the floor is missing one shaggy haired barista.

For a split second there's a part of him that panics and that he'll never find out whether Stiles prefers sex in the shower or on the floor because Scott  _has_  actually died on his watch. He barely gets two feet from the lounge when he almost crashes into him sitting on the stairs looking forlorn.

"What are you doing down here man? Your break's not for like twenty minutes."

"I suck at this," Scott says morosely. 

Derek pinches the bridge of his nose and then sits down beside him. "Yeah, you do."

Scott looks at him with hurt surprise and then buries his nose in between his legs. "Stiles said you were nice deep down; I knew he was being biased."

Derek desperately wants to ask why Stiles would be being biased at all but he overlooks it in favour of talking Scott off his sad, metaphorical cliff. "Look man, yeah, you kind of suck but guess what? Erica couldn't make a decent cappuccino for three months. Laura  _still_  can't get a pattern on a flat white. She avoids making them all summer and then calls them  _snowmen_  in the winter."

Scott snorts and shifts to rest his cheek on his knee and looks at Derek. "So I'll get better?"

Derek shrugs. "Probably. No more asking your sunshine and unicorns friend for help though. If you're stuck with something just, ask me ok? I swear I don't bite."

Scott looks dubious and Derek rolls his eyes. "I  _don't_."

"Derek!" Laura appears at the top of the stairs. "So sorry to interrupt your damn girl scouts meeting but we've got a queue out the door up here."

Derek growls at her because this is  _his_  damn coffee shop but he grabs the back of Scott's shirt and tugs him to his feet. "Line call the shit out of those customers ok?"

Scott nods suddenly looking determined and Derek resists the sudden urge to ruffle the kid's hair.

 

 

*

2 till 7 on a Saturday is Derek's least favourite shift. It's noisy, the place is always crowded with teenagers and exhausted looking parents and there's never any time for anything.

Scott's slowly getting the hang of making the basic drinks but any time anyone orders a Frappuccino a look of intense fear crosses his face and Derek ends up making them instead.

He's busy shoving yet another Strawberries and Cream into the blender when someone whistles from the side of the bar. He turns, fully prepared to tell whatever teenage punk is messing around to get out when he sees Stiles wrapped up in a thick blue hoodie with a light blue scarf. His face is dancing with mirth and he looks, kind of like a dream Derek had recently that involved walking in the snow holding hands with someone.

And oh fuck the Christmas spirit is getting to him.

"What do you want?" he sighs, smiling slightly despite himself.

"That's my frappe you're making man, I'm just checking you're doing it right."

"Double blended, strawberry sauce in first, I think I can manage thanks."

Stiles beams and then waves his arm above his head. "Also, uh."

"What? More movie parallels for my hair-do?"

"No," Stiles snorts. "You've got blended ice up there."

Derek curses and rubs a hand across his face. "Shut up," he says crossly as Stiles laughs.

"It's cool man, you look cute when you're flustered."

"I am  _not_  cute." He shoves Stiles whipped monstrosity at him. "And who drinks these in December?!"

Stiles uses his straw to pick up as much whip as possible and then sucks it off slowly, eyes fixed on Derek as he smirks. "People who think you're cute." And then before Derek can breathe again he's out the door, yelling at Scott to keep up the good work as he goes.

Scott tries to wave a good natured goodbye and knocks a pile of tall cups over.

Derek tries and fails to be annoyed by it.

 

*

When Stiles next comes into the store he stops short and lets out a huge laugh. It's fucking typical he'd have a nice laugh. Derek wishes he'd stop doing it.

He determinedly ignores him as he chortles all the way up the queue, seemingly unfazed that people are staring at the strange man who keeps giggling to himself. 

"What can I get for you," he intones darkly when Stiles arrives at the till.

Stiles' eyes are dancing and without comment he whips out his phone and snaps a picture.

"You don't know me well enough to do that."

"Sure I do man, I've got your 'number' remember?"

"Pretty sure I'd remember having the stroke that led to me giving you my number."

"Oh, pretty boy Santa's got the jokes today."

Derek growls and adjust the stupid,  _stupid_  Santa hat he's wearing as he tries to look menacingly at Stiles.

It clearly doesn't have the desired effect because Stiles keeps smiling at him regardless. In fact the longer they stare at one another the darker Stiles' eyes get and Derek's just thinking about doing something crazy like actually offering his  _real_  number up when Lydia clears her throat from behind Stiles.

Isaac's grinning at them both and oh, he can  _so_  talk considering he and Scott can't string together a sentence between them when they're together. Derek scowls and waves a cup at Stiles. "Drink?"

"Americano, black, please." He's still smiling at Derek, almost fondly and he bites his lip as he pays, dropping the change in the tip box. "I've been a good boy this year Santa I promise; make sure to bring me something pretty."

Derek snaps his teeth at him and tries not to smile. Erica gives him a knowing look from the bar and he curses the day he ever agreed to hire her.

He does however, throw the Santa hat at Laura when he gets home and tell her it's a health hazard and he won't be wearing it again.

Laura leaves it by the Espresso machine in the morning with a note saying; "y _ou lost the bet you wear the hat_."

He's never agreeing to arm wrestle Boyd again.

 

*

"I can't believe it."

Derek hums, watching in morbid fascination as women all over the high street fucking  _flock_  to where Scott's holding a sample tray of Gingerbread lattes.

"I bet it's the smile," Laura says thoughtfully.

Erica twists a lock of hair round her finger shaking her head. "Nah I bet it's the precious big eyes."

"Maybe it's the delicious lattes he's offering on a cold, December Tuesday," Derek suggests.

They both turn and glare at him in perfect synchronisation. "Jealous?"

"Of Scott?"

"I could see why you would be; he's a sweetheart, he's handsome, and he gets to go home and spend all his time with _Stiles_."

Derek raises an eyebrow. "Who?"

Erica rolls her eyes. "You're worse than my brother at hiding your crushes." She straightens up suddenly and squeals. "Speaking of!"

Through the glass they have a perfect view of when Isaac comes out of the chemist where he works part time and sees Scott across the street. Scott, to his credit, only manages to make the tray jump a little as Isaac sticks his gloved hands in his pockets and heads towards the coffee shop. 

Scott then ruins all his credibility by sticking the tray right up in Isaac's face. Isaac seems to find it precious rather than mortifying though and slowly lowers it so he can take one and smile widely at Scott. It's actually kind of sweet.

He didn't think that.

"God they're so adorable," Erica says fondly.

"Watching your brother awkwardly try and flirt with Scott is weird Erica," Derek says suddenly, sticking the brush pan and shovel in front of her. "Go do something useful."

"Really?" Laura smirks at him. "You wanna go  _there_  little brother?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Erica clangs the brush all along the skirting boards as she walks down the shop. "You're a lying liar who lies," she yells over her shoulder.

"You're fired!"

 

*

Lydia, Isaac and Erica barge (Erica barges, she has absolutely no respect for her own damn work environment) through the door late on Friday night. Lydia and Erica are arguing about the pros and cons of Mary Jane being removed from Spiderman's timeline and Isaac glances at the till wistfully before looking back down at his phone dejectedly.

Erica smacks a sprig of mistletoe down on the counter.

Derek stares at it for a moment and then looks back up at her. "I hope that's not your way of asking me to kiss you."

She rolls her eyes. "Ew, no. Put it up over the door. Imagine how awkward it'll be to see all the customers try to talk their way out of macking on one another."

"I can't believe you just used the word macking, what is it with you and Stiles and your terrible vocabulary skills?"

"Wow, bringing him up when there's nothing totally relevant to him in the conversation? You are hooked my friend."

"Boss," Derek corrects. "I'm your boss."

"Potato,  _potato_ ," Erica says with a wave of her hand. "Just let me know when Stiles next comes in and I'll point him in the direction of the mistletoe."

Derek makes an aggrieved noise and goes to change the filter coffee.

"Who is this _Stiles_ we're talking about?" Lydia asks suddenly, looking intrigued.

"Tall, hot guy that's friends with Scott and that Derek wants to make out with." Derek glowers at Erica but she looks unrepentent as she drags a chair across the floor towards the door.

Isaac perks up at Scott's name suddenly which makes Erica and Lydia both tilt their heads and say  _awww_  and Derek slams the box of filter papers down by the sink. "Stop. All of you."

"Scott says Stiles is really nice," Isaac says almost chidingly and Derek wants to punch his hand through a wall.

"That's great man, fantastic, really. But I don't _care_."

Erica's already pinning the mistletoe up above the door. "I hope I get to run into someone under here, someone with nice brown eyes and a cute nose and—" Derek stalks round the back and refuses to serve her for ten minutes.

She sing songs about how him being grumpy with her only proves her point all the way through the close and then blows a kiss at him through the glass on her way home.

He honestly doesn't know how he's going to get through the month or why he hired her in the first place.

Laura and Boyd are curled up on the sofa when he gets home, watching Miracle On 34th Street of all things. Derek reluctantly joins them, bitches about Dylan McDermott setting too high a standard for men everywhere and then buries his face in his hands when he gets a text from _Stiles_ telling him the movie is on tv and that McDermott actually reminds Stiles of him.

He texts back **"how did you get this number."**

Stiles replies **"Santa ;)"**

He's going to kill Scott.

*

Fucking _mistletoe_. Derek's just arriving in to take over as shift supervisor for the afternoon and Stiles is just leaving. They both stop and slowly Stiles' eyes travel up towards the mistletoe. He smiles over at Derek. "I knew you wanted in my pants."

"I want no such thing," Derek grinds out.

"Ohh, you should probably take _yours_ off what with them being on fire and all," Stiles teases.

"I can't believe you're a grown up that pounds ridiculous amounts of coffee and you still say shit like that."

"I can think of some other things I could—"

"Don't finish that sentence, please." His stomach is practically doing saumersaults as it is. He doesn't need Stiles giving him ideas.

Fuck it, he's already been having ideas.

Stiles sighs heavily and then leans forward and smacks a loud, exaggerated kiss on Derek's cheek before lifting his coffee at him and wiggling his eyebrows. "Happy Christmas to me."

"That's not how it goes," Derek says faintly.

"Everyone needs a little Christmas," Stiles says with a smirk and tightens his fingers in Derek's jacket briefly before letting go.

He's already halfway down the street by the time Derek finds his voice to complain about cheesy Christmas song puns.

He goes inside and pointedly ignores Erica who is practically crowing.

 

 

*

He's surprised to see Scott sitting at one of the corner tables on the Sunday before Christmas considering it's the kid's day off and he was grousing only yesterday he had no idea what to buy his mom. Derek heads over, revelling in the almost empty shop that comes every week after the rush on Saturdays.

"Don't you have somewhere other than work you can enjoy your freedom?"

Scott jumps out of his skin and then looks up at him guiltily. "I'm just you know," he waves a book entitled  _Amateur Photography_  around. "Doing some reading."

Derek lifts an eyebrow but says nothing and turns back to start some pre-close. It's only noon but hey, you can never start to early on these things.

Right on cue, half an hour later, Erica, Lydia and Isaac come in for their regular Sunday afternoon treat. Isaac glances around hopefully and when he sees Scott at the back of the shop he straightens up and then stumbles over his own feet. 

He's like a newborn Deer honestly.

Erica grabs a brownie from inside the case and then beams at Derek. "Tea please."

"Did you want just, all the tea or would you like to specify a size?"

Erica smirks; she knows how much it drives Derek up the wall when people just give the name of a drink and he has to ask over and over again did they mean Tall, Grande or Venti. For god's sake; he's not a mind reader. 

"You pick for me," she says grinning. 

Derek grabs a Short mug and sticks it in front of her.

He watches Isaac out of the corner of his eye as he makes up Lydia's special Sunday cheat concoction that's basically as much cream and mocha as possible. Scott, amazingly, seems to have become engrossed in the book he was waving around and hasn't noticed Isaac come in. Isaac on the other hand keeps shooting glances over his shoulder when he thinks his sister isn't looking. 

It's actually painful to think this might go on for a prolonged period of time when they both seem to like each other.

Derek grabs two pieces of pecan cheesecake and pushes the plate across to Isaac. 

"He doesn't like any of our other cakes. He's weird and he sucks at making coffee but he's a good guy, earnest, or whatever. Go eat this with him and stop making sad eyes."

Isaac stares at the cake and then looks up at Derek with his big blue eyes.

"I don't think he—"

"Isaac," Derek hears himself make a pained noise and checks to see there are no other witnesses for this. "He's reading a book about  _photography_ and he's doing math or something else with numbers and logic and fuck knows how he pulls it off but he is. He doesn't know the _first thing_ about lens focus but I'm pretty sure if you went over there and talked to him about right now he'd hang on your every fucking word. So please, take the plate and go, before I stick this fork in your eye."

Because there's only so much Christmas cheer he's willing to spread here.

He tries to pretend he's not holding his breath the whole time Isaac's making his way over there but when he exhales with relief Lydia leans over the counter and pats his chest. "There  _is_  something beating in there."

Scowling he throws a load of plates into a bus tray and determinedly does  _not_  think about whether or not Stiles would be impressed that apparently other people think he has a heart too.

"I'm not the damn Grinch."

"Lydia snorts, surveying him over the top of her mug. "That was still a nice thing you did Derek."

"No, it was to save us all months of the two of them bumbling around one another and then ruining it before it even had a chance to begin. Leading to more angst. I don't need any of that here; I have enough drama with Erica and Laura thank you."

"Hey!" Erica sidles up next to Lydia, typing on her phone furiously. "We all know why you really did it."

He sighs, feeling his face flush up and grabs the bus tray. "I'm going to do dishes; don't let Scott choke on anything."

"Unless it's Isaac's—"

Derek slams the door on Lydia's lewd commentary just in time to hear Erica smack her on the arm, shrieking at her to shut up.

*

"You!" Derek jumps out of his skin at the sudden bang of the door. It's five to six, the night before Christmas Eve and he was _this_ close to locking up and getting the hell out of dodge.

He spins around with the mop in hand and then rolls his eyes when he sees it's Stiles.

"What do  _you_  want?"

"Ha!" Stiles is striding towards him looking happy and bright and every bit like some sort of stupid Christmas wish Derek's not had time to make. "I was right about you all along oh my god; Scott came home earlier singing your damn praises. I think he might actually like you? And Isaac— oh yeah did Isaac happen to mention he and I have photography together?"

Derek can feel his whole face getting hot.

"Well, he told me the  _nicest_  story about you just," Stiles waves his phone around before shoving it in his pockets. "They've gone to the _movies_ together Derek."

He's practically bouncing up and down, it's making Derek nervous.

"So?"

"So that _totally_ wouldn't have happened for weeks if you hadn't jumped in for them. Trust me, Scott moves at a glacial pace no matter how hard I try and push."

"I didn't do anything."

"Yes you did!"

"Well," he scratches the back of his neck and tries not to preen under what is definitely a proud look from Stiles. "So what if I—"

"And you said I was like sunshine."

"What? That doesn't sound like me."

"You did though; Scott told me."

"Scott's an idiot who can't spell _caramel macchiato_."

"Scott's a fucking genius actually, he just can't make a cup of Joe and that's cool because you're gonna keep him anyway."

"No, I'm firing him immediately."

"And you're funny too, and the eyebrows and the secret heart of gold; you're not a mean one at all and I was _so_ right about you—" and then before Derek can protest Stiles is grabbing the front of his shirt and yanking him forward to kiss all the words right out of him. They slip on the wet soapy floor and Derek's going to have a bruise across his back for weeks but he doesn't care because Stiles kisses like he talks, all vibrant light and enthusiasm.

And just a little dirty.

Ok a lot dirty. They have to leave the shop because there are cameras and Derek doesn't trust Erica not to make a copy of the two of them getting naked in the middle of the store.

 

*

When Scott pads into the kitchen the next morning he walks into a table when he sees Derek there. He yells and covers his eyes. Stiles and Isaac both come flying into the room from seperate bedrooms only to see each other and for Isaac to flush right from head to toe.  Stiles swaggers forward grinning and wearing Derek's boxers which, should not be a thing he digs but he totally does. "Dude, if you hurt my best friend my boyfriend will kick your ass."

"Do you have a boyfriend you haven't mentioned?" Derek asks, casually stepping over Scott who's still groaning in pain on the floor.

"I just decided it right now." Stiles says airily.

Derek places a cup coffee beside Scott's head and pats his shoulder. "Don't be late for work."

Ten minutes later he pulls Stiles to the door, kissing him the whole time. 

"Oh I like this early Christmas present," Stiles mutters breathlessly.

Derek grins, tugging on his shirt which makes Stiles whine. "What? _Clothes_ Derek? It's Christmas!"

"Technically not for another ninteen hours."

"Ugh, dating you is going to mean _so_ many early mornings isn't it?"

Derek shrugs. "I've always preferred morning sex but if you'd rather not..."

Stiles narrows his eyes. "Oh I see your game Grinch. Get me all riled up and then go make other people coffee for twelve hours while I sit around doing nothing but think longingly about you in a Santa hat and nothing else."

"The Santa hat Stiles? Really?"

"You looked _adorable_ ," Stiles breathes out all laughter and long sweeping eyelashes as he scrunches up his face. Derek has never, _ever_ seen anything more fucking beautiful than Stiles standing in the crisp morning light and smiling up at him.

"You're so weird," he says affectionately.

"Yep. I mean I heard I was a unicorn so I guess that fits."

Derek flushes and Stiles wraps a familiar blue scarf around his neck and uses it to reel him in and kiss him again. "Go, give people joy and peace and love and all that crap with your special coffee and holiday cheer."

"I won't promise anything."

"Oh please, you're all heart Hale. If you're good later I'll even throw in naked me-- that is if you have time before delivering presents to kids across the world."

"I'm not Santa," Derek groans. "That's even worse than the Grinch. Santa's like, hundreds of years old."

"Ha! I knew you believed!"

"Shut up, oh my god, what am I even doing getting involved with you?"

"I'm a unicorn and you're the Grinch; we're a perfect match."

"You're a _loon_."

"Yeah maybe, but you like me anyway."

"I do." Then they're kissing again and Derek is going to be late but he doesn't care. Erica and Laura can handle the open for once. He's going to be completely cliché and stand and kiss Stiles in the snow until he's breathless.

He's probably going to let Stiles make at least four more Christmas puns before he leaves too.

He's filled with generous Christmas spirit like that.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> see other tags such as #Derek Hale is totally the Grinch #Stiles is literally Cindy Lou Who #Scott is a precious sweetie pie #Christmas cheese caught me #this was for my darling Kat's birthday but i wanted to post it here too #beware of Christmas crack #expect more in the near future #nobody hates being a barista more than baristas ie i hate my job but i can't quit so have Derek stuck in the same job too #i regret nothing


End file.
